Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice

Introduction

Crime has a destabilizing effect on the social public relations in the rule of law, prevents progressive development, threatens the security of citizens, and destroys interpersonal relationships. The significance of the damage caused by crime to society impacts the state of public safety, forcing the government to create a law-enforcement body and other structures designed to combat crime, to initiate and regulate their activities aimed at strengthening the rule of law, law enforcement, organization and implementation of anti-crime. The legal basis for combating crime, are a set of rules of criminal law, criminal procedure and penal law, realizing their protective beginning to conduct criminal justice policy (Cowper, 2012). Implementation of these enforcement problems is impossible without the use of criminal procedure. This fact determines the place of the criminal procedure law in the legal system. This paper will highlight a recent crime, will explain the criminal justice system procedure, and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the procedure.

Description of the Crime

The crime was conducted by a woman of Dallas, who is a mother of five children. She was arrested due to the crime she had conducted of severely abusing her two year child. Her daughter, Jocelyn was in coma for a couple days; the abuse was so severe. The mother had glued the hands of the toddler to the wall of her apartment (Hennessy-Fiske, 2012). According to the police, Escalona, the mother, had kicked her daughter in the stomach and had used a milk jug for beating her up. Jocelyn had suffered from fractured ribs, internal bleeding in her brain, bite marks and bruises. The condition of the child was very critical. The children had told the authorities that their mother abused Jocelyn due to potty training problems. The case is in the court now and the decision regarding the fate of Escalona will be made really soon (www.nytimes.com).

Description of the Process in the Criminal Justice System

Criminal process as a complex legal and social phenomenon is based on the rules of criminal procedure the activities of the investigating agencies, prosecutors and the court (judge), aimed at the establishment of a crime, the perpetrators in a crime, and punishment on the basis of norms criminal law. Criminal procedural activity, regulated by law, takes the form of relationships, which are formed between the court, the prosecutor, the investigator, the investigation, as well as citizens and legal persons.

Stages of the criminal process are as follows (Gibson & Cavadino, 2008):

Criminal Proceedings

Inquiry and Preliminary Investigation

Production in the First Instance

The Appeal Proceedings

The Sentence

Supervisory Review

Criminal Proceedings

This is the initial stage of the criminal proceedings in which the relevant authorities and officials must decide on the beginning of the case, based on the analysis of the Criminal Procedure Code of the reasons and grounds for that. This stage begins with the receipt and registration of qualified persons information about the crime and ends with the decision to open a criminal case or not to open a case. Decision to initiate a criminal case is the legal ...